


baby, you’re (k)not alone

by grimmauld



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Crack Treated Seriously, Fluff, Grantaire is a youtuber, Like, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Social Media, Sweet, Ties, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Wedding, YouTube, do not copy to another site, extremey niche aus, he ties ties, idk man i literally dreamt up the concept
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-03-09
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:25:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23080114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grimmauld/pseuds/grimmauld
Summary: You could never say he hadn’t found a niche. It all started, as many things do, with immense boredom and a simple hunger for trying new things.
Relationships: Enjolras/Grantaire (Les Misérables)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 94





	baby, you’re (k)not alone

**Author's Note:**

> ty to my good pal victor (aledlast on tumblr) for beta reading
> 
> title is from sami/harry from starkid lmao
> 
> i swear this isn’t tie kink (but it could be heh he h ;) heh)
> 
> hmu gaylupin on tumblr, comments and kudos are always loved and appreciated xx

You could never say he hadn’t found a niche. It all started, as many things do, with immense boredom and a simple hunger for trying new things.

**_-6 years ago-_ **

It was a sticky summer’s day in the early evening, and Grantaire was bored. He was collapsed on his bed, the last dregs of the harsh sun streaming through the window, though it was no less hot now as it had been at noon. He was fiddling with the tie he had just pulled off—wrapping it around his hand, weaving it through his fingers. Meeting potential buyers sucked. He was an artist, he shouldn’t have to get dressed up in shirts and ties of all things, walking around like he was the pinnacle of middle-aged disillusionment. He wasn’t even middle-aged, he was 21 for fuck’s sake.

He could hear Enjolras clattering around in the kitchen when he was struck with an idea. He looked thoughtfully at the tie in his hands.

“Might as well,” he mumbled to himself, searching around the room for his old video recorder. He figured he should at least get some use out of it. He set up the camera to frame just his chest and chin. Then he launched into it.

He showed the camera how to tie a tie in easy-to-follow steps, slowly going over the way to tie a windsor knot, explaining the steps carefully. He could only hope his accented English wasn’t too difficult to understand. He hoped that the little jokes he said wouldn’t detract from the video, too.

He didn’t think twice before uploading the video to YouTube, barely even giving it a cursory glance in an editing software. As soon as the video was posted, he threw his laptop onto his bed and wandered into the kitchen, wrapping his arms around Enjolras and burrowing his face into the blonde man’s neck. Enjolras was stirring something on the stove but paused to wriggle in Grantaire’s arms.

“Darling, it’s far too hot for that and I’m standing in front of an open flame,” he whined. Grantaire ignored him in favour of pressing light kisses to the skin where his shoulder met his neck.

“Darling!”

Grantaire groaned, elongating the sound just to be annoying. “Fine, I’ll just go wallow on the couch because my love refuses to love me. This is just like the final year of secondary school.”

Enjolras rolled his eyes and refocused on the task at hand.

**_-3 years ago-_ **

Grantaire just hit a million subscribers. He never expected his one tie video from a boring summer day to lead to this. After his first video he just kept posting. He learned new ways to tie ties and then he showed his fans. He didn’t think that a million people would find his educational videos funny enough to keep watching. He had brought his friends on to teach them how to tie the chosen knot, and then battle them, with Enjolras judging the final knot on speed and beauty.

His very first video had nearly ten million views now.

The biggest thing that his fans asked for was a face reveal. Was he ready for that, though? For the moment he was content with what he was doing.

Today Grantaire had decided to film another competition video. He had originally wanted Enjolras to compete, but even after two and a half years of begging, the most he’d allow was his voice off-screen as the judge.

He called Courfeyrac and Combeferre in from the other room to participate instead. They entered as he was framing the shot, to fit all three of them and only show their chins. Or- Grantaire and Courfeyrac's chins, and Combeferre's lower throat area. Curse him for being over six foot. He started the video the way he always did.

"Hello everybody, if you are new then just know these videos are not your average tutorial."

He then launched into explaining the knot he had chosen for the competition, the trinity knot. There were thirteen steps, he went over them slowly, demonstrating on his own tie as Combeferre and Courfeyrac watched and followed along. He was patient with them, explaining how they had gone wrong with gentle ribbing.

"Courfeyrac, that was step one, how have you already fucked it up?"

"Combeferre, you're doing great sweetie."

"How come 'Ferre gets sweet praise and I'm left with 'you messed it up Courfeyrac', 'this is easy, Courf', I call favouritism." Courfeyrac whined, no malice behind his complaints.

After Grantaire had explained in detail, to the point he was sure both Combeferre and Courfeyrac understood along with the audience, he reached over and undid both of their knots.

"This time I will watch, you can use my tie as a point of reference but Enjolras and I are to judge."

In the end, Courfeyrac was the winner for pure flair alone.

Grantaire closed the video with a thank you for one million, and with a promise for a better upload schedule in the future.

**_-5 and a half months ago-_ **

"Enjolras, I know how much you hate your first name so I won't tarnish this moment by using it. I know that we had our ups, downs and in betweens but what I also know is that there is no one in this world more equipped to deal with my bullshit, to deal with my art fuelled weeks of sleepless nights, my tie competitions, my drunken ramblings or my completely sober love confessions. I know that it isn't your job to pick me up from my lowest, but you took it upon yourself to do just that, and even as in love with you I was before then, that day only served to solidify my feelings. I have been in love with you since eighth grade, and I never want to spend my life without you. I love you, I love you, I love you. Will you marry me, my love?"

"Darling, there is no one I would rather marry in this world than you."

**_-present day-_ **

"Hello everybody, if you are new then just know these videos are not your average tutorial. If you are not new, then this video may be a little bit different than you are used to. For starters," Grantaire paused, adjusting the camera to show his full face for the first time, "hello, this is my face. I decided today was the day to show who I am to you, as not only did I reach two and a half million subscribers recently, but today is the day I get married."

He smiled, eyes already shining with unshed tears, "And you are all important to me, so I wanted to show you the way I am tying my tie for my wedding.

"So, I suppose first thing I should say is that not only is this my face reveal _and_ wedding video, it's also my coming out. Not that I was really _in_ in the first place. Surprise, I'm gay. I'm marrying a man, and, another surprise, you all know of him. If you've watched a few of my videos before you'll know of a snarky voice we all call Enjolras. He's mean, and refuses to be in any videos of mine. He's also the one I'm marrying today. By the way, the knot I'll be tying today is a trinity knot, which I made a video about a few years ago, but if you don't want to go back and watch that, I'll do my best to explain as I go along."

He pulled the tie taut and began. "We've been together for eight years now, but we've known each other for ten, he's a lawyer which is why I got started tying ties. He fucking hates having to tie them. I'm also a painter, as I've mentioned a few times, so I'm generally good with my hands." He paused before letting out a soft chuckle. "Very good with my hands. Loop the tie over, through and to the right now."

He stopped talking for a moment to concentrate on what he was doing.

"I think that this is the perfect video for a 'face reveal'. I never thought that making a stupid little instructional video would lead to this. You know, Enj and I have been together since before this whole YouTube thing, and I like to think we'll be together long after it. He's an arsehole but I love him, you know. Maybe I shouldn't say that on our wedding day. Be proper nice, or something.

"This is the confusing bit, loop the thin end around and through the back now but don't pull it closed. Pull the end down through the loop you just made, so in between the three knots and the fabric, don't pull that closed either. Final confusing step, take the end and pull it around the back, and up through that second loop. Got that? Should I do it again? I can't, I'd be late to the ceremony." He finished working on his tie, fiddling with it until it lay flat.

"The rest of this video is going to be B Roll from our wedding, and maybe if you're lucky you'll get to see our friends. Take a guess at who you think is who, you'll have met them all." Grantaire smiled at the camera, overwhelming love and joy pouring from his face. He launched into his usual outro, "I hope you have a good one, and I hope your tie turned out great. Wait- Of course it did, I taught you how to do it."

**Author's Note:**

> gaylupin / comment & kudos?
> 
> also special ty to youtube tiehole for making me think abt ties, also to google for explaining how to do a trinity knot. i actually tied it, it’s not too difficult once you get the hang of it.


End file.
